Our Urban Town a Publication of the Staten Island Urban CenterOur Urban Town is a quarterly publication that shares thought provoking, intellectually provocative, community news, ideas and opinions from Staten Island's urban neighborhoods.

#reSIStah issue​in celebration of women's history month

​the Woke reSIStah Issue Our Urban Town publishes thought provoking ideas, intellectually provocative reflections, community news, and opinions from the very people in the community who passionately live and/or work with these issues. In this Woke ReSistah Issue, Our Urban Town shares the writings of women activists on Staten Island as a tribute to the contributions of women right now in this borough. Due to space constraints, these are just a small sample of women activists doing the work on the island, but our hope is that these writings inspire readers to be or continue to be activists, to share real stories, advocate for real solutions and to fight for real for the things they believe in. In the era of WOKE and RESIST, it’s our time to be activists everywhere we go and in everything we do.Kelly Vilar,​Editor of Our Urban Town & ​CEO of Staten Island Urban Center

By Kelly Vilar-Founder of the Staten Island Urban Center​ Jonathan F. P. Rose, major developer of non-profit and mixed use properties and urban planning expert, cites in his recent book, The Well-Tempered City that in 1988 Medellin, Columbia was called the most dangerous city in the world by Time Magazine because it was ridden with drugs and crime and years later in 2013 it was named by Urban Land Institute the most innovative city in the world. Medellin’s homicide rate dropped by 95% and extreme poverty by 66%. This was a direct result of the city undergoing major economic investments, building schools, libraries, parks, and improved transportation for workers. Medellin focused on everyone moving ahead and improving access to opportunity through education and transportation. Similarly, Staten Island’s current status as Heroin Island claims many of the same traits of 1988 Medellin, but I’m not so sure it’s making the same economic development investments. If there is anything that I do know about Staten Island, it’s that most residents take pride in economic development. People feel good when a new store opens. It is often a highly regarded response in our borough to socioeconomic problems. Sometimes, it’s not a bad idea, but if it doesn’t include the equal investment in education as with other infrastructural investments, our socioeconomic problems will be amplified down the road. Education in the context of economic development is just as important as transportation and traffic patterns or the number of new stores opening up in the outlets. To have successful development whether it be through the proposed Bay Street Corridor Rezoning or the behemoth development going on on the waterfront, we must have a viable plan to keep up the pace in the quantity and quality of education on the north shore. This is not just about how many school seats we have, but also about the urgency needed to improve the schools that already exist. We cannot have such gross unevenness between economic development and education investments and expect success. According to the Department of Education only 26% of north shore third graders read at grade level which is worse than some of the poorest community districts in New York City. In September 2016 Staten Island Advance published a list of successful and unsuccessful schools based on reading and math scores. Facts are facts and most north shore schools performed poorly on both counts. So, why are north shore schools overall poorer performing schools than the rest of the island’s schools? We cannot be successful if we don’t up the ante on education equity. Educational disparities on Staten Island as they exist today, will have the potential to crumble the billion dollar investments being made on our St. George and Stapleton waterfronts. Cities with this kind of educational disparity never succeed. We’d become the second coming of Atlantic City with struggling glitz and glam on one side of town and a whole lot of nothing on the other side of town…killing property values and killing what is called “value capture.” Value capture is an important calculation of any developing community… it’s what tells us the future values of not just the capital investment but the future values of the surrounding community as a result of that investment. We must recognize that constructing new buildings and filling them with stores is not true economic development. Former NYC Economic Development Corp President Maria Torres-Springer in a recent interview on NY1’s City Hall program, said “Economic development is about connecting people to opportunity.” She references Pre-K, job opportunities and inclusive growth as all part of the goals of the NYC EDC. This is not an anti-development rant… it’s a pro community call to action. We are the NYC borough with an incredible amount of possibilities ahead. We have all the great elements people want for city living; some space, somewhat affordable housing, a smile from a stranger every now and then, an opportunity for pleasant family life, a community of neighbors that know each other, a little bit of church with a pastor or priest that knows your name, art and cultural diversity, a bodega that stays open all night, a parking spot and all kinds of food. This is Staten Island’s north shore. I believe that just like Medellin, Staten Island can make investments to achieve high levels of value capture to include long term strategies for educational equity. An educated workforce for the future is as important as which new store just signed a lease in the neighborhood and is by far a surefire way to measure the north shore’s success in the future.

So true. Follow the community board and its committees as they support better schools and the rebuilding of the Cromwell Center lost to us in 2011, The Staten Island Advance announces all the community board meetings so that the public can attend. Community Board #1's Youth Committee is working to get a Harbor School feeder school and a Young Women's Leadership School on Staten Island - and much more.

Reply

Diane Matyas

4/9/2017 08:45:06 pm

Yes- design and attention to healthy citizen daily life is the key to true economic development. By "raising all boats" we can do more than line a few pockets- invest in: local teens, small business, cultural programs, and transit (traffic roundabouts, bus and trains, safe bike lanes).